Ask a six year old what is the best way to the moon and you will not be disappointed. A child’s mind is the workplace of imagination. More receptive of the world around him, children pick sights, sounds and visuals and weave out the fabric of their own fantasy. Language translates that imagination into thoughts. Words are not a mere collection of alphabets. They carry within them tacit meanings and cultural references. Literature therefore is held in utmost esteem and cherished for being one of the oldest and most effective ways of preservation and spread of culture. Literature for children is especially produced to instigate their imagination and cultivate in them a sense of acknowledgment of the culture they belong to. Though Urdu literature for children in Pakistan has a strong history of visionaries who set out to establish this sense of acknowledgment through rhetoric, the trend is however on decline.
Much before partition, “Phool” magazine was launched to venerate the dream of Muhammadi Begam who was the mother of the renowned Urdu playwright Imtiaz Ali Taj and herself an ardent writer. As a mother she had wondered for some time on the possibility of having a paper exclusive for children full of stories aimed at sharpening their acumen. Though she passed away before her plans could materialize, “Phool” was first published in 1909 from Lahore a year after her demise. Before this, Ferozsons had started publishing from Lahore in 1894 under the guidance of Al -Haj Maulvi Feroz-ud-Din with the aim of spreading literacy amongst the children of India. “Taleem-o-Tarbiat”, a monthly magazine for children by Ferozsons has captivated its young audience ever since its launch. “Khilona”, published from Delhi also became an integral part of the children’s lives. Similarly, after partition, Hakeem Muhammad Saeed Shaheed started “Humdard Naunehal”, with the vision “Jago Jagao” (Learn and Enlighten) and played an imperative role in increasing the intellectual capacity of young minds. With the advent of the Book Group -a non profit organization; came in books with new stories and colorful illustrations adopted in many schools as alternative textbooks. In most recent times, Kifayat publications’ “Suntra” magazine has joined the struggle.
In a country where strong reading habits are yet not a trend, rapid growth of Urdu literature for children is probably too much to ask. Written word for children today is competing with TV cartoons, video games mobile phones, internet and school homework. Children’s literature specifically Urdu literature was never before so vulnerable. This leads to the question that should the themes of stories change to meet the needs of modern day challenges? Dua Rehman, a mother of two school going kids, agrees. “Gone are the days when our children would feel satisfied by only the happily ever afters.” She says her kids get terrified by the news they see often on the local TV channels. “It is haunting (for them)”. The kids who watch their city being shut down on terror threats would probably want to listen to stories where new super heroes would fight the giants of hatred. Between the fantasy of evening cartoon channels and the life they see on streets every day to school, there is a huge void. There are questions creeping in their young minds that do not always get answered. Poetry and prose could be great mediums to patch up this gap. Grand parents often complain that the children are never around and if reading habits are established at an early stage the whole family could take part in such an activity together.
So if today we ask an average school going student in the urban areas of Pakistan to pick a book to read what would he choose? Khalida Uzma, an A-level Urdu Literature teacher comments. “First let’s look at what Urdu means to him. All major communication in corporate sector is done in English. Thus most schools tempt parents with a promise to cultivate in their kids a command over the lingua franca from a very tender age. Parents listen. I have seen a whole generation of parents, who themselves were educated primarily in Urdu, speaking to their toddlers in English at home in an attempt to get the young minds acquainted with the foreign language. I have heard of incidents where preschools have refused admission to children whose parents failed to exhibit polished oratory skills in English. Chances are he will come back with an English story book.”
It is important to understand that English language is not the monster here. It is the lack of a collective vision that is bringing intellectual growth of this country to shambles. With no plans for nation building, the governments have hardly ever looked at beyond the issue of their survival in Pakistan. Surprisingly intellectual growth is not deemed as a matter of life or death for a nation steeped in radicalism. The governments it seems are perpetually busy in fighting some one else’s war, tackling inflation and foreign debt and trying hard to complete their five year tenure.
If language is connected to the culture, should we not be concerned about what would our children live in should they continue to stay alien to Urdu Literature? Are not the teenagers who know nothing about Ashfaq Ahmed, Mumtaz Mufti and Ismat Chughtai, the ones who were never introduced to Sufi Tabasum, Mirza Adeeb and Meraj when they were kids? How can we expect our children to exhibit our cultural values when they are being alienated from the literature that carries its essence?
The question is what needs to be done? Rizwan Saeed, magazine coordinator of Santra Magazine, strongly believes that no substantial and long lasting solution will work if stake holders are not involved. Where past governments have failed miserably to deliver quality in a dearth of Urdu rhetoric, parents and teachers should come forward and backed by the corporate sector. We need to invest in our children’s intellectual growth and we need to do this together. NGOs involvement cannot be a permanent solution. Unless a community takes up this awakening as a personal challenge, no NGO will be able to restore the importance of Urdu permanently.
Temporary projects are just that. Transitory, momentary, provisional. No short term plan of beautifying the Urdu curriculum books or introducing new ones will work in the longer run in the absence of a collective vision. Eager to walk in the footsteps of Hanna Montanas and Bent Tens of the world, my children seem indifferent to the cultural sensitivities of our region. I look at our children and I see a general sense of apathy and I feel guilty. If these minds forget they have roots deep down in this very soil, a strong wind is all it would take to cause the ultimate devastation- a land without intelligent and well grounded youth. With efforts like those of Kifayat , Humdard and Ferozsons, one can surely hope the other wise.
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